Milton Keynes Theatre this week plays host to a new musical which turns the genre on its head, writes Chris Gregg.
Six had taken dusty GCSE history lessons and turned the lives of Henry VIII's wives into an experience not far off seeing Little Mix at Wembley Stadium.
Without doubt, this is a show for the Netflix generation - no interval, no scene changes and no cheesy musical theatre song and dance routines. The six wives perform slick pop songs with a live band, an impressive light show and a huge amount of attitude to turn the Tudor queens into pop princesses.
Six started out as a Cambridge University student show at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe before taking to the West End stage and being nominated for an Olivier award. Now on a UK tour, this is a fresh musical which tells a 500 year old story with references to Tinder, selfies and 'sorry (not sorry)'.
The writers set out to tell the wives' stories from a female perspective and places them at the centre of the narrative - in fact Henry VIII isn't even in this show! With an all-female backing band, this is a show which empowers these characters and gives them their own voice.
During the show, each member of the 'girl band' Six tell their story through a song and compete to find out who had the worst experience with songs which are easily good enough to be hits in their own right. The dancing couldn't be slicker with every sassy hair toss and kick perfectly in sync with the music. And the vocals are faultless with strong performances from each of the six.
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The success of Six has astonished nobody more than the writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, who met while studying at Cambridge. Toby also composed the music and Lucy was co-director of the show alongside Jamie Armitage. Choreography is by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille
Lauren Drew kicks things off as Catherine of Aragon singing the powerful anthem No Way before Maddison Bulleyment takes over as Anne Boleyn giving a huge amount of attitude and really owning the stage as she performs Don't Lose Ur Head. Lauren Byrne slows things down as Jane Seymour with the power ballad Heart of Stone, then things take a surreal turn as Shekinah McFarlane as Anna of Cleves brings a bizzare German techno mash up into the mix. Jodie Steele as Katherine Howard performs All You Wanna Do before the final wife, Catherine Parr, played by Athena Collins mixes things up with I Don't Need Your Love.
This show has been a huge hit with the instagram generation and on opening night, the audience was noticeably younger than the typical theatre goers seen at MK Theatre. And they were clearly loving it, with the whole audience on their feet by the end of the show, many of whom were watching the final song through their smartphone screens.
This is a show which manages to remain very self-aware despite being incredibly slick and choreographed and there are some genuinely very funny moments and clever lyrics. It may be completely different from any other musical you've seen but almost straight away, you'll 'get it' and just enjoy this feel good live music experience for what it is - a great night out.
